No charges in Border Patrol shooting deaths

Federal officials closed the investigations into the shooting deaths of two men – Carlos Lamadrid and Ramses Barron-Torres - by Border Patrol Agents in Arizona without filing charges Friday.

The cases are among more than a dozen deaths along the southwest border at the hands of border enforcers in the last three years that have concerned immigrant advocates who called for the Department of Justice to investigate the shootings.

"It is alarming that the Department of Justice will not pursue criminal charges against U.S. Border Patrol agents involved in separate 2011 fatal shootings in Arizona. There aren't sufficient oversight mechanisms in place now to hold Border Patrol agents accountable for their actions when they abuse their authority," said Pedro Rios, of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. "My concern is that these types of violent incidents by Border Patrol, and decisions that do not provide justice for affected individuals, will become more common if we do not pursue protective measures for civil and human rights of border and immigrant communities."

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General inquiry is conducting an on-going investigation into use of force by Customs and Border Protection agents and officers. The outcome of the investigation is expected in the coming months.

Here are the two cases with links to the DOJ decision:

Ramses Barron-Torres

According to the Justice Department release the 17-year old and three others were on the Mexican side of the border fence throwing rocks at agents who were chasing someone who was carrying drugs on the U.S. side. One of the agents shot at the rock throwers and hit Barron-Torres. A videotape of the incident, said the report, showed Barron-Torres making a throwing motion before falling to the ground in Mexico.

Early reports of this shooting indicated he was climbing the border fence to return to Mexico when he was shot. Barron-Torres was a Mexican national.

“The Department of Justice lacks jurisdiction to prosecute the agent who fired at Barron-Torres under the federal criminal civil rights statute pertaining to use of force under color of law, because the statute requires that the victim be in the United States when he was injured,” said the statement from the agency.

It goes on to state: “…there is insufficient evidence to disprove the agent’s claim that he shot Barron-Torres in self-defense.”

Lamadrid, 19, was shot in the back in March 2011 by Border Patrol agents after running from them near Douglas, Arizona and while climbing the border fence to flee into Mexico. Agents said he was throwing rocks at them. Lamadrid was a U.S. citizen.

The report said local police officers witnessed Lamadrid allegedly loading drugs into a vehicle. When pursued by vehicle, Lamadrid rammed into a Border Patrol service vehicle near the border fence. According to the report, he exited the vehicle and ran toward the fence where he climbed a ladder. At the top of the fence, according to the investigation, another man was throwing rocks at the agent who then shot and killed Lamadrid. “At the time the shots were fired by the agent, Lamadrid was in the line of fire between the rock-throwing male and the agent,” said the report.

The agency did not find the officer “willfully” deprived Lamadrid of his constitutional right and did not act with deliberate or specific intent to break the law. In addition, the Justice Department also said the “matter is also not prosecutable under the federal homicide statutes… because there is insufficient evidence for the government to disprove that the agent was acting in self-defense when he fired at the rock thrower and mistakenly struck the victim, who was in his line of fire.”